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Supreme Court Trump Immunity Ruling; Biden On Trump Immunity Ruling: No One Is Above The Law; Biden Warns Trump "Will Now Be Free To Ignore The Law." Supreme Court Ruled Trump Has Immunity for All His Official Acts; Former Trump Adviser Steve Bannon Serving Four-month Sentence; Top Democrats Back Biden Amid Calls for Him to Drop Out; Sketches by Queen Victoria to Go Up for Auction; Team U.S.A. Crashed Out After 1-0 Loss to Uruguay. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired July 02, 2024 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world and everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With fear for our democracy, I dissent.
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CHURCH: U.S. President Joe Biden echoing a stark warning and a scathing dissent from one of America's top judges, after the Supreme Court rule to give Donald Trump broad immunity from prosecution.
Hurricane Beryl becomes the earliest category five storm on record as it churns towards Jamaica, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
And a group of Palestinians released from Israeli prisons share details about the harsh conditions they faced inside.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Good to have you with us. The U.S. president is blasting the Supreme Court's bombshell ruling on presidential immunity. That decision could allow Donald Trump to escape accountability and some of his ongoing criminal cases. Joe Biden warns this sets a dangerous precedent because presidents are not kings, and no one is above the law.
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BIDEN: Today's decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits what the president can do. This is fundamentally new principle and it's a dangerous precedent. Because the power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law, even including the Supreme Court in the United States. The only limits will be self- imposed by the president alone. I know I will respect the limits of the presidential powers I have for 3-1/2 years. But any president including Donald Trump, will not be free to ignore the law.
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CHURCH: The six-three ruling says Trump may claim immunity from criminal prosecution for all his official acts including some of the actions he took before leaving office. All the justices on the top row backed his immunity argument. Three of them Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett were appointed by Trump himself. That ruling deals a huge blow to the elections aversion case against Trump for the alleged crimes he committed while trying to reverse the 2020 election results.
The case was not thrown out but won't be going to trial anytime soon. After the immunity decision, Trump's lawyers wasted no time filing a letter to challenge his conviction and the New York hush money trial is supposed to be sentenced next week.
Well, meantime, Trump is hailing the latest Supreme Court ruling as a big win for the constitution and democracy. CNN's Paul Reid has the story.
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DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Presidents have to be given total immunity. They have to be allowed to do their job.
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Supreme Court partially siding with former President Donald Trump in his ongoing January 6 case, ruling that former presidents are entitled to some immunity from prosecution for official actions, but not for private conduct.
In the six-three opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts writing for the majority, at least with respect to the President's exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute. The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official. The President is not above the law. The High Court though leaving it up to lower courts to determine which actions are official and therefore immune.
Roberts writing, other allegations such as those involving Trump's interactions with the Vice President, state officials and certain private parties and his comments to the general public present more difficult questions. Meaning District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump's January 6 case will need to decide whether Trump's pressure campaign to get Vice President Pence --
TRUMP: -- that Mike Pence does the right thing we win the election.
REID (voice-over): Georgia state officials --
TRUMP: I just want to find 11,780 votes which is one more that we have. Because we want to say --
REID (voice-over): And others to overturn the 2020 election result odds are official acts. Trump celebrating the decision on social media posting big win for our Constitution and democracy.
[02:05:08]
Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissenting from the majority opinion writing, the relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law. Something she and other liberal justices warned about during oral arguments in April.
KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm trying to understand what the disincentive is from turning the Oval Office into, you know, the seat of criminal activity in this country.
REID (voice-over): The decision likely to hamstring Special Counsel Jack Smith's election subversion case.
JACK SMITH, SPECIAL COUNSEL FOR THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: Charging Donald J. Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States.
REID (voice-over): Roberts making clear in his majority opinion that Trump's discussions with Justice Department officials and his official conversations with the then Vice President are immune. And in another blow for Smith Robert says Trump's official acts cannot be considered even as evidence at trial. A trial in this case though now highly unlikely before the November election.
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REID: Sources tell CNN that Trump's legal team intends to use this opinion to attack other cases Trump is facing including the Mar-a-Lago classified documents prosecution and his recent conviction in New York. They will likely use this opinion to argue that portions of Hope Hicks's testimony, as well as tweets that were introduced as evidence should be tossed out. Now it's unclear if that will be enough to up end that conviction, but it will clearly keep Trump's lawyers busy over the next few months.
Paul Reid, CNN, the Supreme Court.
CHURCH: CNN Legal Analyst Norm Eisen joins me now from Washington. He is a former White House Ethics czar. He also served as counsel to the House Judiciary Committee and the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump and litigated cases involving him previously. A pleasure to have you with us.
NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thanks for having me back, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Indeed. So, in what has been viewed as a big victory for Donald Trump, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that former President -- the former president does have immunity for some official actions during his presidency but didn't specify which actions that include setting up another lower court battle in his January 6 case. Now, you just wrote in a CNN opinion piece that Trump shouldn't celebrate this ruling just yet.
But now his legal team is moving to overturn his hush money conviction, citing this Supreme Court decision. So, do you still think his celebration is premature?
EISEN: I do for the same reason that it was premature in the Supreme Court today. It is also premature in New York. And that reason is that the Supreme Court did not give him the immunity he sought from basically all of his actions while president. They made a distinction. Official acts are immune but unofficial acts, you can be prosecuted. And the New York case about his 2016 political activity and fabricating his personal checks, that has nothing to do with official acts.
So, that case is going to be saved. And I think a lot of Jack's Smith's 2020 election interference case is also going to be able to continue under this new test.
CHURCH: OK. So that was my next question to you because talking about -- we didn't get a determination from the Supreme Court on official versus unofficial action. So, what does this Supreme Court decision mean for Special Counsel Jack Smith's prosecution of Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election results?
EISEN: The Supreme Court sent the case back down to the trial court to Judge Chutkan to make a determination of which acts are official, which acts are not and it laid out. There's a few that it knocked out of the indictment. But the majority of the indictment goes back down and Donald Trump's communications with individuals out in the states, such as the infamous call to Brad Raffensperger in Georgia just find 11,780 votes.
His communications with private individuals, his fabrication of these phony electoral certificates. So much of this case can still be found by the judge to be unofficial. It is unofficial and she should have an evidentiary hearing right away where America can follow along and see that this conduct is not protected.
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CHURCH: Right. And Norm, in part of her dissenting opinion, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said this. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law, orders the Navy SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival, immune. Organizes a military coup to hold on to power, immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon, immune, immune, immune, immune, very strong words.
And then President Biden spoke to her dissenting opinion Monday night, adding that the court ruling gives virtually no limits to what a president can do and represents a dangerous precedent. What's your reaction to this dissenting opinion and to the President's response?
EISEN: The dissent was one of the most powerful that I have ever seen in my more than three decades of reviewing Supreme Court precedent. The extent of official power that is given to a president when we have a candidate, Rosemary, who says he wants to be a dictator on day one. The official power is shocking and disturbing. We'll see if those specific examples pan out or not. There's a debate to be had. And the President called attention to that.
But there still is this safe harbor of the unofficial acts and that's why we need to have that hearing before Judge Chutkan as soon as possible. It's kind of a mini trial to go through these allegations of 2020 attempted coup and make that determination. The nation and indeed the world is now waiting to see what the judge will do to make that assessment.
CHURCH: Yes. We're all holding our breath. But Norm Eisen, always a pleasure to have you on. Appreciate your analysis.
EISEN: Thanks, Rosemary.
CHURCH: U.S. House Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is seeking articles of impeachment against Supreme Court justices. She wrote on X, the Supreme Court has become consumed by a corruption crisis beyond its control. She added that the ruling represents an assault on American democracy. It's up to Congress to defend our nation from this authoritarian capture. I intend on filing Articles of Impeachment upon our return.
Ocasio-Cortez did not say which justices should be impeached, but her references to corruption aligned with Democratic allegations against Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.
Hurricane Beryl has strengthened into a category five storm and is carrying 165 miles per hour or 270 kilometers per hour winds across the Caribbean towards Jamaica. It's the earliest category five storm in history. The U.S. National Hurricane Center calls it potentially catastrophic and says it's expected to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge to Jamaica starting Wednesday.
The storm made devastating landfall across the Windward Islands on Monday knocking out power and destroying homes. Parts of St. Vincent and the Grenadines have no water or power and at least one person was reported killed there. The prime minister of Grenada says Carriacou, the country's second largest island was flattened in half an hour.
Patrick Oppmann shows us what barrel left behind and how residents prepared.
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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With wind speeds of 150 miles per hour hurricane barrel makes landfall in the Windward Islands. The storm close schools, businesses and airports across the islands of Grenada, Barbados and St. Lucia as Beryl rapidly intensified. Officials urged residents to seek shelter immediately.
RALPH GONSALVES, PRIME MINISTER OF SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADIES: You have to be off the road you must be off the road. The instructions to the police to enforce this. You have to take care of yourself. You have to look out for your neighbors and your friends and your families.
OPPMANN (voice-over): The hurricane knocked out power in about 95 percent of Grenada and Barbados over 400 people were evacuated and housed in hurricane shelters. The nation's chief shelter warden said, some people only had hours to prepare in lines formed at gas stations and grocery stores.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that I am well prepared, but just getting a few more can items. But in terms of the house preparation and things like that, I have my water, bottle water and collected water.
[02:15:03]
I have my extra foodstuff, my batteries, my battery lights and so on. So I'm prepared.
OPPMANN (voice-over): The National Hurricane Center warned life threatening storm surge would raise water levels six to nine feet above normal tide levels leading to potentially catastrophic damage in low lying islands. Abnormally warm waters fueled barrels alarming strength, record temperatures driven by climate change. Hurricane season began June 1st. But already there is no shortage of pain and destruction caused by history making storm.
Patrick Oppmann, CNN Havana.
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CHURCH: The U.S. state of California has experienced nearly 3000 wildfires so far in 2024. State Fire officials say more than 131,000 acres have burned. That's more than 53,000 hectares. It's a massive increase. More than 1600 percent since this time last year.
Last month, the postfire alone burned through more than 15,000 acres in just 11 days. State Fire officials warn the triple digit temperatures ahead of the July 4th holiday coupled with dry conditions and fireworks mean increased danger.
Well, meanwhile Greece's Prime Minister says this summer will be a dangerous one for wildfires in his country. Dozens of fires broke out over the weekend, including two that came close to Athens. Officials say damage from those fires has been limited. Thanks to quick response from firefighters and emergency services. The country has ramped up efforts to hire and train more emergency workers after a deadly and devastating fire season last year.
Still to come. A group of Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails are detailing the harsh conditions they faced inside. Their heartbreaking story just ahead.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. As the war in Gaza nears 10 months Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his forces are nearing the end of the stage of eliminating Hamas in the territory. He says he visited his Gaza division on Sunday and saw very considerable achievements in the fighting in Rafah. But Mr. Netanyahu vowed to continue striking Hamas's remnants before launching the military operation in Rafah in May. Israeli leaders had said the southern Gaza City was the last stronghold of Hamas.
Well, dozens of Palestinians released from Israeli prison on Monday are describing the horror they face while in custody. They say they were abused and subjected to near daily torture with very little to eat. CNN's Nada Bashir has more.
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NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER (voice-over): Along hope for reunion after months in detention. Removed from Israel's devastating military onslaught on Gaza, forced instead, they say, to face unspeakable horrors in Israeli detention.
We're being tortured in ways I cannot describe, Farer (ph) says. Only God knows what we have been through. I swear to you, it was the kind of torture nobody can speak off. Overwhelmed, it is almost too painful for him to account.
They play with your emotions, he says. They would show us photos of our relatives bodies, pictures of our families and children and say nothing your children, we killed them. They would show us pictures of our wives, our sisters and tell us that they had taken them and done this and that to them. For Faraja's daughter, her father's safe return is all that she has been praying for.
I'm very happy, she says. Never in my life have I been without him. Not once in seven years. Inside the relatives of those released on Monday frantically call loved ones to share the news.
They told him they killed us all. He still can't believe we're all alive, this woman says.
On Monday Israel's Prison Service said that it was not aware of these claims, adding that all prisoners are detained according to the law, and that all basic rights required are fully applied by professionally trained prison guards. The Israeli security officials have previously told CNN that they have been made aware of torture tactics being used against Palestinians within Israel's prison system and are investigating.
Some 50 Palestinian detainees were released by Israeli authorities on Monday. Why they were originally detained, we may never know. CNN's inquiries to Israeli authorities went unanswered. Among them, the director of Gaza's largest hospital Al-Shifa released more than seven months after Israeli forces first raided the hospital and detained him. We were beaten and tortured almost every day. My little finger was broken and I was repeatedly struck across the head, causing me to bleed several times, Dr. Abu Salmia (ph) says. The torture taking place in Israel's prisons is need daily. The decision to release Palestinian detainees has sparked fierce backlash among some Israeli officials. Top ministers were reportedly out of the loop.
And everyone from the opposition leader to the far-right security minister called it dysfunction and national security malpractice. But the Israel security agency or Shin Bet says it was forced to release some detainees due to a shortage in prison space. Whatever the reason Monday's reunions were a moment of relief for many families in Gaza.
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Muhammad Ali Bader (ph) says he was detained for more than eight months. Look at my legs, he says. They wouldn't give us anything to treat our rashes. Many has spoken of the little food and water they received while in detention. Other say they were denied medication, including insulin for diabetes.
For a month and a half, I was blindfolded, handcuffed and forced to kneel, Wa Almirsor (ph) says. Highlighting the deep scars left on his wrists. A permanent reminder of all that he and so many others have been forced to endure. Nada Bashir, CNN, London.
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CHURCH: CNN asked the Israeli security agency Shin Bet about those allegations but did not receive a reply. Top U.S. Democrats are publicly supporting President Biden for now what the new poll numbers show about how voters are reacting, that's next.
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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. The U.S. supreme court's ruling that presidents can't be prosecuted for official acts will have far- reaching consequences. The decision will likely delay Donald Trump's federal election subversion trial and could impact other cases against him. The justices ruled along ideological lines with a six-to-three decision.
Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a lengthy and strongly worded dissent, writing the court's ruling makes a mockery of the principle that no man is above the law. But Chief Justice John Roberts pushed back saying, "The president is not above the law, but Congress may not criminalize the president's conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the executive branch under the constitution."
Meantime, Donald Trump's Former Adviser Steve Bannon is now in a federal prison in Connecticut. Bannon reported to the prison on Monday to serve a four-month sentence for defying a congressional subpoena. It was issued by the now-defunct House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Speaking to his supporters outside the facility, Bannon said he is "a political prisoner." The conservative podcaster is a staunch Trump ally and a vocal supporter of his presidential re-election bid. He is the second former Trump aide to be imprisoned for contempt of Congress.
Well, Democrats are mostly sticking by President Joe Biden in public amid the fallout from last week's debate. But there are talks behind closed doors that things could change. One Democratic lawmaker told CNN that his colleagues would feel compelled to speak out if polling and research show that President Biden's performance could cost them the House in November. Joe Biden's campaign pushed back against supporters that are asking him to step aside, calling them the bed- wetting brigade. But that tone has fueled anger among some in his party.
CNN's MJ Lee reports.
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SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK, (D-GA): I'm with Joe Biden.
REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA) FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: It is not about performance in terms of a debate. It is about performance in a presidency.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have confidence in Joe Biden. They think he is our strongest candidate.
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democrats are in full crisis mode.
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Dealing with everything we have to do with -- look, if we finally beat Medicare.
LEE (voice-over): On the heels of President Biden's poor debate performance against Donald Trump, Democrats gravely concerned about what comes next for their party.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN, (D-MD): There are very honest and serious, and rigorous conversations taking place at every level of our party.
LEE (voice-over): While the president and his campaign are fighting for survival.
JILL BIDEN, U.S. FIRST LADY: Joe, you did such a great job.
LEE (voice-over): Huddled at Camp David over the weekend, the president's family giving him their unequivocal support.
JILL BIDEN: There is no one that I would rather have sitting in the Oval Office right now than my husband.
LEE (voice-over): The first lady telling Vogue Magazine that the family will not let those 90 minutes define the four years he has been president. The Biden clan undeniably frustrated with the president's senior aides in the fallout of the CNN debate, and privately discussing whether any advisers should be fired. JOE BIDEN: I don't speak as smoothly as I used to. I don't debate as well as I used to.
LEE (voice-over): Top campaign officials and party leaders fielding a flurry of worried phone calls and public criticism pouring in from lawmakers, surrogates, and donors. But for now, insisting the president is staying put.
GOV. WES MOORE, (D-MD): Joe Biden is not going to take himself out of this race, nor should he.
LEE (voice-over): But the next stretch of days crucial for the president's political future. The Biden team is collecting and awaiting polling and research to get a fuller sense of the post-debate damage. One Democratic Congressman telling CNN that Congress is the party's so-called firewall and suggesting that if data comes out showing Biden is not just going to lose the presidency, but he is going to lose was the House, then the dam will likely break, prompting Democratic officials to publicly call for a Plan B.
REP. JIM CLYBURN, (D-SC): I do not believe that Joe Biden has a problem leading for the next four years because he has done a great job of leading for the last 3.5 years.
[02:35:00]
LEE (voice-over): Amid the panic, the campaign doing its best to spin last week's presidential debate to their advantage, namely pointing to the 90-minute face off as showing Donald Trump's true colors.
JOE BIDEN: I know I am not a young man, but I know how to do this job. I know right from wrong. I know how to tell the truth I know like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down, you get back up.
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CHURCH: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is defending President Biden after his lackluster debate performance last week. He says the world is focused on Mr. Biden's record during his entire presidency, not just one night. Blinken added that allies see Mr. Biden as a president who is focused on building up alliances and who has re- invested America in the world.
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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: If you look at surveys around the world for what they are worth, you see again and again and again that confidence in American leadership has gone up dramatically over the last 3.5 years. That doesn't just happen. It is the product of choices. It is the product the policies that we pursue. It is the product of our engagement. And they see president Biden having led the way in all of those different areas.
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CHURCH: And we'll be right back.
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CHURCH: A set of nineteenth-century drawings by a young Queen Victoria will be up for auction in London next week, three ink sketches from when the British queen was just 14-years-old and still a princess depict different figures on horseback. And a fourth sketch made a year after she became queen, shows a seated woman with a crown and sash. Auction House Roseberys expects the album of sketches and other royal memorabilia to sell for up to GBP 2,500 or about $3,100. The trust which looks after the royal family's art collection says it has more than 4,000 works by Queen Victoria spanning 64 years of her life.
Well, it is the end of the road for Team U.S.A. in the Copa America after losing to Uruguay on Monday. Members say they didn't play well enough to win and their fighting spirit was visibly crushed after Uruguay scored in the second half. The loss raises questions about but Coach Gregg Berhalter's position, who remains deeply unpopular with some American fans.
I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. For our international viewers, "World Sport" is coming up next. For our viewers here in the United States and in Canada, I will be back with more "CNN Newsroom" after a short break. So, do stick around.
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CHURCH: Welcome back to our viewers in North America. I am Rosemary Church. 30 passengers are recovering from injuries after their flight from Spain to Uruguay hit strong turbulence. Video from the cabin shows the damage to the Air Europa plane's interior. The flight made an emergency landing in Brazil after what passengers described as a terrifying experience.
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MAXIMILIANO, PASSENGER (through translator): From one moment to the next, the plane destabilized and went into a dive. The people who didn't have seat belts went up in the air and hit the ceiling and they got hurt. Those who had seat belts on, not so much. Then we landed here as an emergency. They helped us on the runway. We were on the plane for three or four hours without being able to move.
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CHURCH: According to FlightAware the aircraft is a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The news comes amid a string of bad publicity for Boeing, which has recently faced a series of whistleblowers alleging safety issues at the company. There is no evidence Monday's incident had anything to do with a safety malfunction. Boeing announced it will buy back manufacturing partner, Spirit AeroSystems to help address its ongoing safety issues. This brings key production back under Boeing's control. The news comes as the company nears an agreement with the Justice Department to potentially avoid a criminal trial. The case is tied to fatal crashes involving its 737 Max, which killed 346 people. Under a proposed agreement, Boeing would plead guilty to criminal charges and reportedly pay a fine of around $240 million.
The company would have to agree to safety improvements and government oversight as well, but the deal will reportedly not force Boeing to admit that production problems led to the crashes. Victims' families call the offer a "sweetheart deal" and they say a trial is the only way to hold Boeing accountable. Boeing has declined to comment and the Justice Department has not respond bonded to CNN's request for comment.
Zipporah Kuria lost her father, Joseph, in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in 2019. She was briefed with other victims' families by the DOJ Sunday about the proposed deal, and she told CNN's Julia Chatterley Monday, why she thinks justice seems so hard to get.
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ZIPPORAH KURIA, DAUGHTER OF BOEING 737 CRASH VICTIM: I think for me, it feels like just something that is completely utterly inhumane. 346 people died and they lost their life. The fact that we are even talking about a fraud charge and not manslaughter or negligent wrongful death -- I lost my dad. He was cut into a thousand pieces in a field in Ethiopia, far away from us, far away from our loved ones. I know parents who lost their children who will never see them walk. They'll never see them graduate, go to college. They'll never walk their children down the aisle. And we are talking and discussing a fraudulent charge; it doesn't make sense to me.
There is no conceivable place or reasoning behind this. I think as an international kind of citizen, my only understanding could be maybe it is the fact that you know, Boeing bankrolls America. I don't know what it is, maybe because it is such a big contributor to the economy, they are less likely to charge them. Because it is ridiculous, had this been somebody who walked down the street and shot my dad in the head, there would have been charges. This would be murder. But unfortunately, it seems as though for some reason, the Department of Justice is bent on you prioritizing corporate interests over public safety.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: A lawyer for the victims says the families will most likely ask the judge to reject the plea. A judge has declared a mistrial in the murder trial of Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman, who was accused of drunkenly driving into her police officer boyfriend and leaving him to die in 2022. The State Trooper who helped lead the investigation was relieved of his duty after the judge declared a mistrial.
[02:50:00]
He had admitted on the witness stand to sending sexist and offensive texts messages about the defendant to friends.
CNN's Jean Casarez has more.
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JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is really a "who done it?" Did Karen Read murder her Boston Police Officer boyfriend, or did his own friends who were off-duty police officers murder him in a private home in January of 2022? Well, the prosecution is saying that they are going to retry this case. The defense is saying we will never stop, we will never quit fighting.
Now, the jury had sent out several notes saying that they were at an impasse, that they could not be unanimous. I want to take you into the courtroom right here for you to listen to that judge read the final note from the jury and her decision after that.
BEVERLY CANNONE, NORFOLK COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE: The deep division is not due to a lack of effort or diligence, but rather a sincere adherence to our individual principles and moral convictions. To continue to deliberate would be futile and only serve to force us to compromise these deeply held beliefs. I am not going to do that to you folks. Your service is complete. I am declaring a mistrial in this case.
(CROWD CHEERING)
CASAREZ: Now, what you've been listening to right there, the supporters of Karen Read, they have been here every day of this trial. They wear pink. They are in unison. They have t-shirts with her picture on them. Every time she comes out and enters the courthouse, they cheer. They are united believing that this was a cover-up because the defense is saying from the bottom up, it was covered up by law enforcement, by people in the home that night. But that will be up to a new jury because the prosecution is saying not only will they retry, but the judge has scheduled a status hearing for July 22 right here at this courthouse in Massachusetts.
Jean Casarez, CNN, Dedham, Massachusetts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The president of World Athletics has invited Ukrainian Leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be his special guest at the Paris Olympics and he is pledging to continue his support for Ukrainian athletes. CNN's Amanda Davies has our exclusive report.
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AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR (voice-over): The start of Olympics month, as you'd expect, a competition scene of athletes with their eyes on the prize. But this is Ukraine and national championships started with a moment of silence for lives lost. As a two-time gold medal winner, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe knows how hard the road to Olympic glory can be and he is fulfilling a promise to the Ukrainian athletes traveling to visit them at home. We were invited to join him for the journey.
DAVIES: What is the message you want to send for this trip?
SEBASTIAN COE, PRESIDENT, WORLD ATHLETICS: That we stand behind them.
DAVIES (voice-over): World Athletics are the only Olympic Sports Federation to have banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes from elite competitions since the style part of the full-scale invasion.
COE: Hello, Mr. President.
DAVIES (voice-over): First stop, a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to reiterate their commitment.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Thank you for coming and thank you for supporting our sportsmen and Ukrainians.
DAVIES (voice-over): There had been talk of a boycott of the games by Ukraine after the International Olympic Committee refused to take a tougher stance on athletes from Russia and Belarus, leaving the door open for individuals to qualify as neutrals providing they fulfill certain criteria.
COE: I did use the opportunity to make him absolutely understand that if he does make it to Paris, then he has an open invitation to watch the number one Olympic sport.
DAVIES (voice-over): This gymnasium here in Kyiv was hit by a missile in March, incredibly, nobody was killed and its one of 518 sporting facilities that have been damaged or destroyed over the last few years, 15 of which have been Olympic facilities. It is -- many of the country's top athletes have been forced to train abroad, sporting refugees traveling from training camp to training camp, event to event in their quest to keep their Olympic dreams on track.
No member of this team has been spared the impact of the war. 400- meter hurdler Viktoriya Tkachuk with so much more on her mind than the finish line, with her brother Evan fighting for his country on the frontline of the war against Russia.
VIKTORIYA TKACHUK, TWO-TIME OLYMPIAN, 400M HURDLES, UKRAINE: I was sitting in the train already and I saw him through the window and I realized that I really don't know if I will see him again, and that would hurt.
[02:55:00]
I'm sorry.
DAVIES: I know.
DAVIES (voice-over): The most vivid of reminders of the state of play, just a stone's throw from the Lviv Athletic Stadium. A burial ground for soldiers killed in the conflict, among them several of the at least 479 athletes who've died, a number that gives a very different meaning to the phrase 'fighting for your country' that's so often used in the sporting contexts and faces and lives lost that provide all the motivation any Ukrainian athlete will need in Paris.
Amanda Davies, CNN. Lviv, Ukraine.
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CHURCH: Thanks so much for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I will be back with more "CNN Newsroom" after a short break. Do stay with us.
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